EggIndustry
EDITORIAL
BY TERRENCE O'KEEFE
www.WATTAgNet.com
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
Will 'activist-friendly' housing
systems depress egg sales?
A look at what has happened with per-capita egg consumption in
Austria provides a somewhat surprising answer.
➤ Consumers in the U.S. have a wide variety of shell egg choices in
retail stores. Eggs from hens in conventional cages, cage-free and freerange are available at most grocery stores as are eggs from hens fed
organic, vegetarian and omega-3 fatty acid-enhanced diets. For the most
part, the least expensive choice, eggs from hens housed in conventional
cages, is still the winner at checkout with the vast majority of consumers.
Based on current U.S. consumer preferences, as
expressed by actual purchase behavior, I have always
assumed that a major change in husbandry practices
at egg farms that greatly increased costs would lead
to a significant drop in egg consumption. However,
this has not been the case in Austria, where per-capita
consumption increased slightly from 226 eggs in 2003
to 232 eggs in 2012. During this same time frame, the
Terrence O'Keefe
Austrian egg industry transitioned from having 53, 22
and 25 percent of hens housed in battery cages, cagefree and free range, respectively, in 2003 to 3, 67 and 30 percent of hens
in enriched cages, cage-free and free range, respectively, in 2012.
According to International Egg Commission (IEC) statistics, Austria
produced enough eggs to supply 92 percent of its shell egg needs, but
only 82 percent of its combined shell egg and egg product needs in 2012.
The IEC doesn't have data on retail egg prices in Austria, but because
shell egg production has increased by 17 percent during the transition out
of cages, one could assume egg producers are at least breaking even.
So what does all this mean for egg sales in California? If only Proposition 2-compliant shell eggs are available in California, will per-capita
consumption rise or at least not decline? If so, would this just be the
result of the relative price inelasticity of demand for eggs or could it be
that even though the majority of consumers won't choose to pay more for
"activist-friendly" eggs, they feel better about eating them?
Terrence
tokeefe@WATTnet.net
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